Element contents
Controlling Love
The Ethics and Desirability of Using ‘Love Drugs'
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 August 2022
Summary
Recent research in neurochemistry has shown there to be a number of chemical compounds that are implicated in the patterns of lust, attraction, and attachment that undergird romantic love. For example, there is evidence that the phenomenon of attachment is associated with the action of oxytocin and vasopressin. There is therefore some reason to suppose that patterns of lust, attraction, and attachment could be regulated via manipulation of these substances in the brain: in other words, by their use as 'love drugs'. A growing bioethical literature asks searching questions about this prospect, and especially about the use of such drugs to enhance or reignite attachment in flagging relationships. This Element examines some of the central arguments on the topic, and sounds a note of caution. It urges that there are reasons to think the states of attachment produced or facilitated by the use of such drugs would not be desirable.
Information
- Type
- Element
- Information
- Online ISBN: 9781009299060Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication: 15 September 2022
References
Arrell, Robbie. Should we biochemically enhance sexual fidelity? Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 83 (2018): 389–414.Google Scholar
Chappell, Sophie Grace. The objectivity of ordinary life. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 20 (2017): 709–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodd, Julian. An Identity Theory of Truth. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santos, Dos, Rafael, G., Bouso, José Carlos, Alcázar-Córcoles, , Ángel, Miguel, and Hallak, Jaime E. C. Efficacy, tolerability, and safety of serotonergic psychedelics for the management of mood, anxiety, and substance-use disorders: A systematic review of systematic reviews. Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology 11 (2018): 889–902.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dummett, Michael. Frege’s myth of the third realm. In Frege and Other Philosophers. New York: Oxford University Press 1991: 249–62.Google Scholar
Earp, Brian D. and Savulescu, Julian. Is there such a thing as a love drug? Reply to McGee. Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 23 (2016): 93–6.Google Scholar
Earp, Brian D. and Savulescu, Julian. Love Is the Drug: The Chemical Future of Our Relationships. Manchester: Manchester University Press 2020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Earp, Brian D., Sandberg, Anders, and Julian, Savulescu. Natural selection, childrearing, and the ethics of marriage (and divorce): Building a case for the neuroenhancement of human relationships. Philosophy and Technology 25 (2012): 561–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Earp, Brian D., Sandberg, Anders, and Julian, Savulescu. The medicalization of love. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24 (2015): 323–36.Google Scholar
Earp, Brian D., Sandberg, Anders, and Savulescu, Julian. The medicalization of love: Response to critics. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 25 (2016): 759–71.Google Scholar
Earp, Brian D., Savulescu, Julian, and Sandberg, Anders. Love drugs and science reporting in the media: Setting the record straight. Practical Ethics: Ethics in the News 14 June 2012; http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2012/06/should-you-take-ecstasy-to-improve-your-marriage-not-so-fast/ (last accessed 15 November 2021).Google Scholar
Earp, Brian D., Wudarczyk, Olga A., Sandberg, Anders, and Savulescu, Julian. If I could just stop loving you: Anti-love biotechnology and the ethics of a chemical breakup. American Journal of Bioethics 13 (2013): 3–17.Google Scholar
Ferraro, David. On love, ethics, technology, and neuroenhancement. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24 (2015): 486–9.Google Scholar
Fisher, Helen. The brain in love. TED talk 2008; www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYfoGTIG7pY (last accessed 20 December 2021).Google Scholar
Hauskeller, Michael. Clipping the angel’s wings: Why the medicalization of love may still be worrying. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24 (2015): 361–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolodny, Niko. Love as valuing a relationship. The Philosophical Review 112 (2003): 135–89.Google Scholar
Kosaka, Hirotaka, Munesue, Toshio, Ishitobi, Makoto et al. Long-term oxytocin administration improves social behaviors in a girl with autistic disorder. BMC Psychiatry 12 (2012): 110.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., and Wang, Z. X. Nucleus accumbens oxytocin and dopamine interact to regulate pair bond formation in female prairie voles. Neuroscience 121 (2003): 537–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lopez-Cantero, Pilar. Love by (someone else’s) choice. Philosophy and Public Issues 10 (2020): 155–89.Google Scholar
McGee, Andrew. Is there such a thing as a love drug? Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 23 (2016): 79–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murdoch, Iris. The sublime and the good. In Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature. London: Penguin 1997: 205–20.Google Scholar
Naar, Hichem. Real-world love drugs: Reply to Nyholm. Journal of Applied Philosophy 33 (2016): 197–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyholm, Sven. Love troubles: Human attachment and biomedical enhancements. Journal of Applied Philosophy 32 (2015a): 190–202.Google Scholar
Nyholm, Sven. The medicalization of love and narrow and broad conceptions of human well-being. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 24 (2015b): 337–46.Google Scholar
Pettit, Philip. The Robust Demands of the Good: Ethics with Attachment, Virtue, and Respect. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015.Google Scholar
Savulescu, Julian, and Earp, Brian D. Neuroreductionism about sex and love. Think 13 (2014): 7–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Savulescu, Julian, and Anders, Sandberg. Neuroenhancement of love and marriage: The chemicals between us. Neuroethics 1 (2008): 31–44.Google Scholar
Wilfrid, Sellars. Philosophy and the scientific image of man. In Science, Perception and Reality. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1963: 1–40.Google Scholar
Spreeuwenberg, Lotte and Schaubroeck, Katrien. The non-individualistic and social dimension of love drugs. Philosophy and Public Issues 10 (2020): 67–92.Google Scholar
Strawson, Galen. The silliest claim. In Things that Bother Me: Death, Freedom, the Self, etc. New York: New York Review Books 2018: 130–53.Google Scholar
Striepens, Nadine, Kendrick, Keith M., Maier, Wolfgang, and Hurlemann, René. Prosocial effects of oxytocin and clinical evidence for its therapeutic potential. Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology 32 (2011): 426–50.Google Scholar
Wolf, Susan. Sanity and the metaphysics of responsibility. In Watson, Gary (ed.), Free Will, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press 2003: 372–87.Google Scholar
Wolf, Susan. The importance of love. In The Variety of Values: Essays on Morality, Meaning, and Love. New York: Oxford University Press 2015: 181–95.Google Scholar
Wudarczyk, Olga A., Earp, Brian D., Guastella, Adam, and Savulescu, Julian. Could intranasal oxytocin be used to enhance relationships? Research imperatives, clinical policy, and ethical considerations. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 26 (2013): 474–84.Google Scholar
Accessibility standard: Unknown
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this element is currently unknown
and may be updated in the future.
- 16
- Cited by